1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to orthodontics and more particularly to a method and apparatus for facilitating treatment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the practice of orthodontics, teeth are positionally corrected by means of an arch wire secured to certain teeth of a dental arch by means of brackets. This requires on the part of the practitioner considerable skill and judgment in the forming and manipulation of the arch wire in securing the proper application of forces to the teeth as a result of which the maloccluded teeth will be permanently moved into a desired occluded arch.
There exists no scientific method of placing brackets on teeth in a manner which will allow the practioner to ideally finish treatment with a coplanar arch wire having no buccal-lingual steps or other adjustment factors. Attempts have been made to do this by applying certain fixed values which could include arch wire form, widths, preselected torque or buccal-lingual arch wire step values as determined by established standards or means.
Critical assessment of the nature of a random sample of a number of malocclusions will show that individual variation is so great that the only way to achieve ideal orthodontic objectives is to custom construct individual appliances for individual orthodontic cases. It is commonly accepted that there is considerable variation in labial and buccal dental anatomy of teeth. It is further commonly accepted that the labial and buccal surfaces of teeth are curvilinear in nature. It is a commonly accepted procedure for orthodontists to place brackets more occlusively or more gingivally in an attempt to compensate for over bite or open bite correction. Inasmuch as the tooth surfaces are curvilinear, any height change in bracket placement will result in changes in both torque and buccal-lingual dimensions. It is obvious that one could conclude that the possible number of "ideal combinations" would be in the billions and that the stocking of suitable appliances would not involve a practical clinical procedure.